10 Reasons to Invest in Ekurhuleni

Aerotropolis City

Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis is an urban development concept in which the region’s layout, infrastructure and economy has an airport at its core. In principle, it resembles a traditional metropolis with its central city area and commuter links to a variety of suburban developments. The key difference of the Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis compared with a metropolis, is its dynamic links to global markets. The Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis creates unique investment opportunities for:

Property developers
Industrial and agricultural investors
Just-in-time logistics companies, warehousing and cool chain storage
Research and development
Bio-Life products, pharmaceuticals, health care services and training

Manufacturing Hub

Ekurhuleni is an important industrial and logistical centre within the Gauteng City Region. As such, the industrial and commercial base of the municipal area plays a decisive role within the provincial space-economy. The CoE boasts well-developed commercial and industrial value chains, which offers a myriad of attractive development opportunities to domestic and foreign investors. These investment opportunities are further unlocked by world-class freight logistics and transport infrastructure. Most of manufacturing and industrial activities in Ekurhuleni happens around the OR Tambo International Airport. The area known as the ‘industrial triangle’ is enclosed by the R21, R24 and N12 highways. The area houses various industrial complexes such as JetPark, Isando and Spartan. The area is characterised by a range of light and heavy manufacturing activities. The manufacturing sector is a major contributor to the local economy and employment.

Contribution to The GDP

The City of Ekurhuleni is strategically positioned in the Centre of Gauteng, South Africa’s industrial heart. City of Ekurhuleni as a key player contributes close to a quarter (23.3%) and close to a tenth (8.1%) to provincial and national GVA output. In terms of employment, the City contributes 25% to the provincial and 8.3% to the national total employment. The City is characterized by key economic activities such as manufacturing, farming, transport and logistics, which play a critical role in the overall GDP of the Country.

Businesses operating within the City of Ekurhuleni enjoy a competitive advantage of being able to establish mutually-beneficiary relationships with multi-national corporations around the City. They are able to form relationships with competitors, suppliers and distributors as they are able to cut costs by outsourcing functions which are not their key capabilities or area of specialization and sometimes be able to benefit from each other’s processes such as distribution or packaging.

Good Infrastructure

Ekurhuleni is home to state of art infrastructure designed to accommodate all businesses, big and small operating in any market or industry. It boasts the O R Tambo International Airport, Africa’s biggest and busiest airport with a significant logistics corridor along the R21 highway thus making it a true gateway into Africa. It registers about 17 million passengers annually and is also a critical transit point for goods, with more than 300 thousand tons of freight going through the airport each year. The City boasts an extensive transport network across rail, road and air, with the Gilloy’s interchange being the biggest in Southern Africa. It boasts some of the country’s finest modern highways – with the N12, N17 and N3 linking Ekurhuleni to cities like Johannesburg, Provinces like Mpumalanga and neighbouring countries like Mozambique.

Competive Energy Rates

The World Bank ‘s 2018 report on Doing Business in South Africa reported that the average monthly consumption cost for energy in South Africa is 13 US cents per kilowatt-hour and is slightly cheaper than the average for BRIC economies (13.8 cents). The cost for energy consumption in City of Ekurhuleni (11.8 US cents per kilo watt) is not only below the national average but is also cheaper than other metros in the Gauteng Province with City of Tshwane at 14.1 and City of Johannesburg at 15.7 US cents per kilo watt.

Reliable Transport

The City also has South Africa’s largest railway hub is in Germiston, where all railway lines connect to guarantee speed and agility in moving high value goods across the Southern African region. Investors have the luxury of opting for the high speed Gautrain shuttles services for quick trips between OR Tambo International airport, Johannesburg and Tshwane. The City of Ekurhuleni’s Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN) aims to provide high-quality and affordable public transport. The main objective of the IRPTN is to provide a new and attractive integrated public transport network that includes road and rail public transport services to better serve the people of Ekurhuleni. Based on forming a network linking nodes of social, economic and industrial development, the IRPTN is a catalyst for sustainable development and does more than just address immediate demand. In Ekurhuleni, the system will begin to integrate some parts of the currently disconnected nine towns. It cuts across all nine of the City’s flagship projects and ties into the development plans of private stakeholders.

Quality Water Services

The City of Ekurhuleni supplies its 99% of its population with top quality potable water which is Blue Drop certified. To maintain optimum water quality and compliance to national legislation and international standards, regular tests are conducted at various points on the water supply network including water tanks, reservoirs, towers and distribution points. The City recognises the critical role water plays in socio-economic development activities and is committed towards rendering uninterrupted water supply services to customers. It has systems in place to provide alternative water supply during time planned and unplanned water interruption to ensure that consumers are not affected negatively

Good Corporate Governance

The City of Ekurhuleni has a good track record of getting a clean audit from the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA). In the latest audit the City got an unqualified audit opinion for 2017/18 Financial Year Audit. This is testament that Ekurhuleni’s leadership and management are committed towards good governance and accountability.

Good Moody’s Ratings

The latest Moody’s Credit Rating Agency found that the credit profile of the City of Ekurhuleni (Baa3/Aaa.za stable) reflects its stable financial performance, supported by a large and diverse economic base, and significant, predictable revenue from service charges and property taxes. The ratings agency also found that, the City’s consistently strong liquidity remains above the average of its rated peers in South Africa (Baa3 stable) and will mitigate its exposure to increasing capital requirements.

Quality Of Life

The City of Ekurhuleni is not only a good place to invest in, but also provides a good quality of life for its residents. The City has performed well on the citizens’ satisfaction rating based on the indicators explored in the 2018 Quality of Life Survey conducted by the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO). The Quality of Life Survey showed that 86% of people have access to basic services, and this is slightly higher than the provincial average. In actual fact the City is doing very well in this area as according to the GCRO report the city was ahead of national targets in the provision of clean water (94.5% vs 84.9%), refuse removal (88.2% vs 62%) and sanitation (85.9% vs 59%)